"Live with you?"
Ash looked at Caesar with a confused face.
"Right. Don't get me wrong though, my place is full of other people it wouldn't be just the two of us. I'll take care of you till you are fighting, people enjoyed your performance so far afterall."
Ash looked towards Old Bill for advice.
"Go with him, he's trustworthy."
"You two are funny, if Bill didn't say you two just met yesterday I would have thought you two were relatives or something."
Thinking about it even Ash thought about how weirdly caring Old Bill was.
"I just felt sorry for the kid, there isn't much more to it. I have a lot of free time anyways."
Old Bill looked around outside, and saw that it was starting to get dark.
"It's best that I start looking for a bench now."
But just as he was about to leave he was stopped by Caesar.
"Why don't you come with us too, the kid wanted to repay you anyways... this could work that out."
Old Bill looked around before shrugging.
"I don't see why not."
Hearing this Caesar gestured at one of the nearby people and in just a few seconds a white limousine stood before them.
"Well then shall we."
...
The car drove down the many roads of the city before arriving at a large fenced of building.
'Is this the place?'
The car soon came to a stop with the doors automatically opening.
Soon as Ash stepped out the collective shout of hundreds entered his ears.
"WELCOME HOME BOSS!"
Seemingly hundreds of henchmen were waiting before the large mansion like building.
"Hahaha, Boys, we have some guests today, be nice to them."
"YES BOSS!"
Ash was shocked by what he saw.
'To think he was a gangster.'
Walking through the mansion Ash was enamored by the sheer wealth being showcased.
Giant chandelier, marble flooring, everything one associated with wealth.
'This might be even extravagant than that restaurant.'
"Miguel, show these two to the guest rooms."
Soon as Caesar said this a small scrawny looking man stepped forward.
"This way please."
Ash and Old Bill followed him and were eventually led to their rooms.
The room looked like nicely decorated hotel room. It was certainly nicer than any place Ash had been before.
Soon Miguel left the two alone. Ash was about to close his door when Old Bill approached him.
"Wanna talk a bit, kid?"
Ash stopped his movements and opened the door.
"Sure."
...
The two were sitting at the table that was in the room looking at each other.
The first to speak up was Old Bill.
"So what do you think?"
"It looks nice, but is this really all you wanted to say?"
Old Bill paused for a moment before speaking up.
"Ohh no, not the place I'm asking about Caesar."
"Caesar, he seems nice enough, though I'm a bit surprised he's a gangster."
Old Bill looked at Ash with a bit of pity in his eyes.
"He may seem nice, but don't be deceived."
"Do you two have history, Old Bill?"
Reluctance could instantly be seen forming on the old man's face.
"A bit... I guess..."
Ash didn't want to push further, but Bill started speaking without Ash asking.
"If I had to guess our stay here has more to do with me than you."
Ash kept listening not feeling like interrupting.
"He is partly responsible for making me homeless... I guess he felt pity or maybe a bit of remorse upon seeing me."
"That's weird he acted like you two were close."
Ash interjected.
"He's like this with most people, I'm not anything special, I'm just someone that was in his gangs way."
"What do you mean "in his way"."
Old Bill leaned back in his chair before looking at Ash.
"It might be a long story, still wanna hear it?"
"So long as you are willing, I want to hear it."
Old Bill started explaining.
"You know, most of the district that we went through is owned by him. He used many different methods to get there, coercion, black mail all sort of things and I was just one of his many victims."
Old Bill paused momentarily before continuing.
"I used to run a small bakery in those streets, it was nothing special, but enough to get around. Caesar was also a regular costumer back then, he would often come in and buy some bread or cakes for his people. As time went on my bakery became one of the only places still not affiliated with him. I thought it wasn't necessary, afterall he was a regular he would probably leave me alone, so even after being asked I politely declined his invite to join."
Old Bill took a deep breath and continued.
"Then one day I came back to my bakery being on fire, everything burned down, even my apartment behind it, with all my belongings inside it. Without insurance and with it only being a rental too I lost everything, I also barely had anything in the bank. In the end the place where the bakery once stood a new one opened, one affiliated with the Iron Wolves, oh that's the gangs name."
Old Bill looked at Ash.
"I believe they did it, afterall many things point to it, but... hah, it doesn't really matter anymore, it was more than ten years ago now."
Ash looked at Old Bill before asking him a question.
"Do you hate him?"
Bill was surprised upon hearing this before letting out a small sigh.
"Not really, it was a while ago. Time heals all wounds afterall, and even though I'm pretty sure he did it, it could really have been just faulty wiring or something, so it's not like I can hate him too much."
Bill looked Ash in the eyes as he got up from his seat.
"I just wanted to tell you this, don't trust friendly people too much, especially ones that are without clear motives. Don't even trust me."
"..."
"Goodnight then Ash."
As the door closed behind Old Bill, Ash was left to ponder on what he had just heard.
'A somewhat ordinary story... I guess. I don't necessarily believe it was Caesar's fault, but I guess we can never know. And that last thing, felt a bit too negative, but its not completely false.'
...
Waking up the next morning Ash had breakfast with the gang members, before getting driven to The Arena.
Once there he began readying himself for what would happen today.
Today he was going to go into the real tournament, he passed the qualifiers and it was already time for the real tournament to commence.
Looking at the brackets Ash looked at who his opponent would be.
'... Steel Pipe... are you serious?'
His first opponent seemingly carried the name Steel Pipe.
Time went on and it was time for his match against Steel Pipe, and though the name was ridiculous Ash didn't underestimate his opponent.
'If he qualified he had to be atleast somewhat strong.'
Stepping into the arena he came face to face with this "Steel Pipe".
It was a man, with many cybernatic enhancements around his body and a singular steel pipe in his hands.
'So the Steel Pipe isn't just a name.'
Before long the announcers voice reverberated throughout the arena.
"Ladies and Gentlemen let's welcome our two fighters. In one corners stands the pipe wielding maniac STEEL PIPE."
A series of shouts began coming from the crowd.
"Steel Pipe, you can do it. Beat this kid!"
"I've bet a lot on you Steel Pipe!"
Before long it was time to introduce the other participant.
"And in the other corner the youngling that came out of nowhere, the dark horse ASH."
Another series of shouts began swarming in, but Ash stopped listening and was fully focused on the combat.
"START!"
The announcers voice reverbarated, signaling the start of the fight.
Ash was about to run at his opponent when he seemingly disappeared.
'Where is he?'
Looking around the arena Ash saw no sign of his opponent, he seemingly just disappeared.
In that moment he felt a strong gust of wind from behind himself and quickly turned around with his sword, perfectly blocking the strike.
Seeing his attack blocked Steel Pipe retreated before disappearing once more.
'Invisibility... this could get annoying.'
This striking blocking game went on for a while, but Ash could feel his patience running out.
'I have to do something... could Delusion work?'
Ash tried using his Delusion skill, making himself believe he could see this invisible enemy, but the ability disappointed him for the first time.
'It's not working... Truth Seeker probably wouldn't work either... right?'
This time Ash shifted his Aura from the dark one he was using till now, to his light Aura effectively switching to his other ability.
To his surprise the moment he did this he was able to see Steel Pipe.
The invisbility that was seemingly unpiercable prior became completely absent, it was like he was just standing there sneaking out in the open.
Looking at him it felt truly ridiculous.
Ash didn't hesitate much and quickly charged at him with his sword slashing at his arm.
The man wasn't ready and his arm was quickly severed.
'Ouch that was not what I intended.'
The invisibility became undone, and it became apparent to everyone watching that Ash had won.
"THE WINNER IS ASH!"
Cheers erupted, as many in the crowd were happy with their betting decisions.
Soon a few people swarmed the injured Steel Pipe, but Ash didn't linger and quickly left the arena.
...
(Meanwhile in the spectator area)
"Something changed at the end, his vibe changed."
One person commented.
"Yeah he wasn't able to see him before, but then boom he just slashed and he hit him, how could this happen."
"Truly a strange contestant, truly worthy of the black horse title."
Amidst the crowd, in the back stood a lone figure of small stature. The figure seemed to be thinking to themselves, about the fight they'd just witnessed.
'To think he's a dual attribute user, still he only seems to be around rank 2. Even with in current state he shouldn't be much of a problem.'
The figure slowly retreated from the arena heading towards the exit.